Reayanul Haque

Alyssa Yankwit

Writing For Social Science

Position Paper Final Draft 

16th May, 2020. 

                                 Effect of Sports on Physical & Mental Health

Introduction

Sports are an essential part of our daily life or to an athlete’s life. It improves our physical ability and helps us to stay healthy. However, sometimes it can cause physical and mental health problems too. Sometimes these sports can leave an athlete or a player into something negative like sports injury which can cause them to risk their lives. As an athlete, I had experience with injuries and mental health problems. My subculture is about sports which are related to my topic and show my argument. The position of my argument is what negative effect does sports have including injuries and physical damage. There are many beneficial aspects to playing a sport. In other words, the same sport can leave someone with an injury, mental or physical damage. Physical injuries are one of the dangers of playing sports, it does not matter on athletes’ ability to play. Sports usually require a large time commitment because most of the athletes want to play for the nation. That’s why all athletes need to choose sports wisely. 

Effect Of Sports On Physical Health

In this article, “Disadvantages of Sports to Children” Abdul Malik Muftau talks about how sports have many benefits. However, at the same time, it has disadvantages too which can cause negative effects on a player or an athlete’s life. Muftau says children participate in different kinds of sports that somehow lead them to physical injury and also mental pressure. Bad behavior from the opponent team, discouragement from the teammates can cause a bad effect on their mental health. (Muftau, 2014) Muftau also noted how he was engaged with many sports which helped him to grow as a sportsman but also, he suffered many injuries while playing those sports. (Muftau, 2014). 

Some of the student-athletes do not understand the long-term effect of sports injury. Long term effects of sports injury can change their life or can make them physically disabled. Basketball, football, badminton, soccer, cricket, tennis are some of the sports that have a high risk of injuries. A shoulder separation, knee ligament injuries, broken wrists, hip dislocation, broken fingers, bursitis of the elbow, etc are some of the long-term injuries that any athlete can face. (Munoz, 2016) In the article, “Sport-related injuries leave lasting, painful effects” by the writer Kristina Munoz prefixes some of the real-life stories of the athletes who suffered several injuries while playing sports like baseball, football, soccer, etc. Rodney Sahyoun, a senior infielder, faced many injuries throughout his sports career. Joint pain, stitches, arthritis in wrists are some of the common injuries that he faced. He also had to take breaks from the sports to recover himself. Sahyoun asserts, he is not sure when he can go back to his regular life since he faced so many injuries from playing sports. (Munoz, 2016) Nevertheless, different players or athletes have different kinds of injuries based on their sports. The writer has pointed out that injuries leave long-lasting painful effects. Also, from my personal experience, I had knee surgery from playing soccer. I clashed with another player which fractured my knee. I needed surgery to go back to my regular life but I am still suffering from that and it didn’t heal fully.

Effect Of Sports On Mental Health

Nicolas S, the writer of “Youth And Mental Health: The Positive And Negative Effects Of Sports” tells that there are many positive aspects of sports if the sport is used incorrectly. Children have a high risk of facing mental issues if they are not ready for the sports they are playing. Physical ability, strength is needed to play a sport so that players can lower the risk of injury. Teenagers mostly the girls get addicted to staying fit and healthy that leads them to play different types of sports. They get addicted to staying healthy that leads them to mental health issues when they cannot keep track of their health. (S, 2016) They have been addicted to consuming healthy living and eating healthy and exercising continuously to the point where they were overly self-conscious and had self-esteem issues. Teenagers develop negativity and many other mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, changes in behavior when they cannot stay healthy. They struggle with accepting these challenges and it can impact their self-confidence resulting in possible mental health issues with depression, anxiety, lack of confidence, etc. (S, 2016). Also losing a game causes depression which leads a lot of teenagers to commit suicide.  

               One could summarize, that sports injury can affect mental illness. Margot Putukian, the writer of the article,” Mind, Body, and Sport: How being injured affects mental health” implied that athletes hurt their physical and mental health. Sadness, isolation, depression, anger, frustration, lack of sleep, and communication are some of the normal emotional reactions that athletes can go through. (Putukian) These issues can be both long and short term depending on the athlete’s situation and also on base on the injury. Some student-athletes playing careers may be at stake, and the health care provider should be prepared to address these issues. It both affects the athlete’s physical and mental health. (Putukian) Athletes may also struggle with their education which affects their academic career. In this situation, the coach, health care should provide them physical support by giving them the right treatment. (Putukian) 

Conclusion

Sports have many benefits that keep us healthy. However, at the same time, it leaves people with so many negative consequences that are harmful and can affect them for the long term. High school teenagers, athletes may suffer from both physical and mental illnesses for playing sports. So, athletes or students should be more careful and aware before they play any kind of sports that can hurt them physically and mentally. Some sports injuries lead people into harmful effects including deaths. So, that is why precaution and proper training is necessary too. So, it does not leave any athlete or a player in a bad condition which can change their life situation in a negative way. 

Citation

Abdul Malik, M. (2014) Disadvantages of Sports to Children.

Nicolas, S. (2016) Youth and Mental: The Positive and Negative Effects Of Sports.

Margot, P. Mind, Body and Sport: How being injured affects mental health

Kristina, M. (2016) Sport-related injuries leave lasting, painful effects

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